This is probably the best book on ancient Egypt I have read so far. The author is clearly passionate about Egyptian civilization, but he acknowledges its dark side; for all its artistic and architectural achievements, it was a repressive autocracy that cannot have been pleasant for ordinary people to live under. The continuity of this …
October 2014 archive
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/10/11/the-rise-and-fall-of-ancient-egypt-by-toby-wilkinson/
Oct 07 2014
The Unquiet Ghost by Adam Hochschild
The Unquiet Ghost is both a terrific historical and journalistic investigation and a historical document itself, as the author acknowledges in a preface written in 2002, some eight years after the book’s first publication. More than eight more years have passed, and the conditions that made the book both possible and urgent slip ever further …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/10/07/the-unquiet-ghost-by-adam-hochschild/
Oct 06 2014
Paladin Of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold
After reading The Curse Of Chalion to prep myself for this book, that had come highly recommended to me by various sources, I made the mistake of reading the Wiki page and discovering that the Chalion saga is based very much on the historical House of Trastamara, the royal family that wound up uniting Spain …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/10/06/paladin-of-souls-by-lois-mcmaster-bujold/
Oct 06 2014
Glamour in Glass by Mary Robinette Kowal
Glamour in Glass is the second novel in Mary Robinette Kowal’s Glamourist Histories series. This review contains spoilers for Shades of Milk and Honey, the first in the series.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/10/06/glamour-in-glass-by-mary-robinette-kowal/
Oct 04 2014
The Cider House Rules by John Irving
This is a highly acclaimed novel, but I found it somewhat disappointing. The characters mostly are sweet, uncomplicated people, the kind of people who are nice to know but not very interesting to read about. This is basically the life story of a fictional character, but like the life story of a real person it …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/10/04/the-cider-house-rules-by-john-irving/
Oct 03 2014
The Curse Of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold
An almost perfect fantasy novel, with one major exception. Cazaril is a compelling hero but there are parts where his heroism seems less a function of himself than of the story. I loved that he had personality and flaws, but the author sometimes seems to forget those flaws and forego realism for the epic, when …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/10/03/the-curse-of-chalion-by-lois-mcmaster-bujold/
Oct 03 2014
St Joan Of Arc by V Sackville-West
What student of English literature hasn’t felt the slightest prurient interest in the personal lives of the Bloomsbury group? My fascination with Vita Sackville-West stems, of course, from her role as muse to Virginia Woolf’s Orlando, but I found her own novel, All Passion Spent, to be tedious rather than reflective. But here in this …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/10/03/st-joan-of-arc-by-v-sackville-west/
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/10/03/just-send-me-word-by-orlando-figes/
Oct 02 2014
The Origins of the Second World War by A.J.P. Taylor
The author has done his homework. He marshals volumes of diplomatic correspondence and documentation in support of his argument. But what he ends up with is clearly a reductio ad absurdum. As Tony Judt has pointed out, the conclusion that Hitler was not the primary agent responsible for starting World War II simply defies common …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/10/02/the-origins-of-the-second-world-war-by-a-j-p-taylor/
Oct 01 2014
Shades of Milk & Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal
Delight is something I probably shouldn’t inquire too deeply about, so I will simply say that Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal was a delight. I knew that Regency romances were a Thing, and I knew that not having read Jane Austen is a gap in my education, and so I am …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/10/01/shades-of-milk-honey-by-mary-robinette-kowal/
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Al Singh
Doug Merrill
Doreen Sheridan
John Pitzel
Lars N. Goldschlager
Laura Eilers
Professor X
Robert Maedgen
Sylvere Ap Leanan
The Shire